Inching up, but slowly: Storm runoff begins to fill parched lake

OROVILLE — Although Lake Oroville is still extremely low, a couple of rainstorms that doused the area since Thursday increased the water elevation by more than 9 feet.

Water was still flowing into the lake Monday at a rate of 15,144 cubic feet per second.

"It's a pretty good start," said Kevin Wright, water services supervisor at Lake Oroville for the California Department of Water Resources.

Wright said the lake received 5.84 inches of rain since the storm began Thursday. In Chico 3.10 inches fell; in Paradise, 13.22 inches.

Before the storms began, the lake level was at 701.39 feet, or 33 percent of capacity.

By 4 p.m. Monday, it was up to 710.17 feet, and 37 percent full.

Wright said they had a considerable storm in Oroville Sunday night.

"We're still getting inflow," he added. "It's not enough, but we'll take what we can get."

Despite the start, the lake has about 190 feet to go before it's full. The lake is full when the elevation reaches 900 feet.

Some officials are counting their blessings, though.

"We're very thankful for the storm," Wright said. "We're hopeful there will be more rain this week."

Higher in the mountains, the amount of water stored in snow in the California mountains pretty much doubled over the weekend.

The bad news is that it's still less than half of what's normal for this time of year.

On Friday, the statewide snow water content was 11 percent of the average for April 1, according to automatic sensors set up by the Department of Water Resources. Monday, the level was up to 21 percent of average.

The most dramatic increase came in the mountains north of the Yuba River drainage. On Friday, the water in snow in our neighborhood was just 4 percent of normal. Monday that was up to 14 percent.

In the Central Sierra, the percentage went from 14 percent to 26 percent; in the Southern Sierra, 15 percent to 19 percent.

It can be argued the northern snowpack is more critical, as it fills Lake Oroville and Lake Shasta, the keystones of the State Water System and the federal Central Valley Project.

Reach reporter Barbara Arrigoni at 533-3136, barrigoni@orovillemr.com or on Twitter @OMRBarbara. City Editor Steve Schoonover contributed to this report.